You may earn a maximum of 3 points toward your final grade by doing the above and answering the questions and submitting them on time (no later than Friday, August, 25). Any worksheets submitted after the deadline will get a 0. You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of BFE. In other words, “Where are we? When is it (time, day, and year)? Who are the people involved? What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?"
The play BFE involves the main character Panny, a 14 year old Asian girl who is a freshman in high school, where many blonde white girls are going missing and getting raped frequently. This makes the whole community on edge. The setting is some time in the late 1990's, and there are several plots that are going on at the same time, separated by scene cuts. Panny's mom is Isabel, a woman who has spent most of her adulthood trying to morph herself into a white looking woman. Other characters include Lefty, who is Isabel's older brother, Evvie who is his love interest, Hugo a Mormon 20 year old who is Panny's love interest, and other supporting characters include Nancy, Hae-Yoon, Jack, and the man with no name who tries to kidnap Panny.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion is when Hugo and Panny talk on the phone for the first time when she called him by accident. He believes she is older than she really is because she lied to him, but she keeps on going on with the lie and he asks her to meet up. During the initial phone call, they start talking about things they have never told anyone else, so this gets Panny interested in someone who wants to keep talking to her, because she's never felt this way before.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The unique factor is that this is the day Panny decides to tell the audience her story of being a 14 year old girl who thinks that her Asian looking face is a bad thing in her life, and she decides to say and express the events that happen because of her feeling like this.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
In the end, is Panny able to find peace and self-love for her Asian features, even despite her mother asking her if she wants plastic surgery and her love interest not wanting her because she is not pretty like the blonde white girls?
How does the interaction between Panny and Hugo further act as a catalyst towards her feeling discontent with her life and how she needs to get over him?
5. Use Panny, Isabelle, or Lefty to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for one of the three designated characters..
Isabel wants to improve her situation by feeling wanted and actually getting over her agoraphobia so she can enjoy being somewhere other than her room where she fantasizes about the general. The first obstacle A is that she personally gets panicked with anxiety being elsewhere or somewhere she is not comfortable. Another obstacle is that she has a fake facade of her identity because she masked it with plastic surgery. B is she argues with Lefty when he wants to move out and start a life with Evvie, but she wants him to stay. C is that society wants her to look more white and not with her Asian features. D the obstacle against the universe is that she needs self-improvement but everything n her life isn't going the way she wants it to.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in BFE and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
I think the most theatrical moment in this play is when Panny is taken by the man who thinks about raping her and takes her into the middle of the desert so he can start kissing her and then ultimately rape her like he has done to blonde girls. While this is happening, she says he ends up beating her senseless but doesn't rape her because she is too ugly to even be raped. She then shows the word "UGLY" carved into her hand by that man. This scene is the climax and really heightens the whole idea and theme of the play. What's important about this in terms of the outcome of the play is that it is part of why she decides to get plastic surgery and continue feeling as if her Asian ethnicity is a burden of ugliness.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in BFE. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
One example of an image is the exchange of letters between Panny and Hae-Yoon because we can imagine in our heads about their respective locations and feelings. Another example is the scene where the man takes Panny into the desert and starts kissing her with the intention to harm her; this is explained more in #5. The last example of images is when Isabel starts getting with the pizza delivery man Jack because she thinks he is the general she dreams about. Its a funny scene on the surface but it really shows that Isabel is really lonely and wants the feeling of being wanted, especially after her plastic surgery to look more white. The title helps us understand the first image; that Panny is in the middle of nowhere but at the same time she has a lot going on in her life
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in BFE.
Some themes in BFE include race in society, love, marriage, family, coming-of-age, self-identity and hatred, and physical beauty.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with BFE? Is family redefined in BFE and if so, in what ways?
Family plays a big role in shaping the way that Panny is the way she is. Her own mother, Isabel, doesn't ever teach her values like self-love or having a healthy family relationship, and she even in fact tells Panny for her 14th birthday (which she originally thinks is her 13th birthday because she forgot her own daughter's age) that she will get her plastic surgery done. She tells her that her nose and eyes are not beautiful enough like the white girls are. Panny doesn't even refer to her mom as "mom" or something like that; she calls her by her first name. This really shows how distant they are and they don't have a bond of love. Also, Isabel's brother Lefty is unfulfilled with his life living with his sister and niece. He wants something better and bigger, and starts reading self-improvement books. Combined with the fact that Panny's dad left them when she was really young, the idea of family is redefined in this play into something that most people wouldn't consider normal or healthy.
You will be rewarded a maximum of 3 points, if I judge your work to be above average. You will receive 2 points if your work is average, that is it may have a few minor mistakes in some of the answers but demonstrates correct grammar and indicates that some, but not all, of the answers, are acceptable and well expressed. You will earn only 1 point if you simply answered the questions and/or if you use poor grammar and if there are signs that you have not read the material on which your answers are based.
1. In the space below, describe the stasis at the beginning of BFE. In other words, “Where are we? When is it (time, day, and year)? Who are the people involved? What is the dramatic situation in which the characters find themselves as the play unfolds?"
The play BFE involves the main character Panny, a 14 year old Asian girl who is a freshman in high school, where many blonde white girls are going missing and getting raped frequently. This makes the whole community on edge. The setting is some time in the late 1990's, and there are several plots that are going on at the same time, separated by scene cuts. Panny's mom is Isabel, a woman who has spent most of her adulthood trying to morph herself into a white looking woman. Other characters include Lefty, who is Isabel's older brother, Evvie who is his love interest, Hugo a Mormon 20 year old who is Panny's love interest, and other supporting characters include Nancy, Hae-Yoon, Jack, and the man with no name who tries to kidnap Panny.
2. What is the intrusion that causes the stasis to be broken and the dramatic action to develop, often at an increasingly rapid pace, to the end of the play?
The intrusion is when Hugo and Panny talk on the phone for the first time when she called him by accident. He believes she is older than she really is because she lied to him, but she keeps on going on with the lie and he asks her to meet up. During the initial phone call, they start talking about things they have never told anyone else, so this gets Panny interested in someone who wants to keep talking to her, because she's never felt this way before.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place?
The unique factor is that this is the day Panny decides to tell the audience her story of being a 14 year old girl who thinks that her Asian looking face is a bad thing in her life, and she decides to say and express the events that happen because of her feeling like this.
4. State the dramatic question or questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
In the end, is Panny able to find peace and self-love for her Asian features, even despite her mother asking her if she wants plastic surgery and her love interest not wanting her because she is not pretty like the blonde white girls?
How does the interaction between Panny and Hugo further act as a catalyst towards her feeling discontent with her life and how she needs to get over him?
5. Use Panny, Isabelle, or Lefty to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, that is the dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what the character wants (NOTE: In Trifles the wants of Ms. Hale change as the play progresses). The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles for one of the three designated characters..
Isabel wants to improve her situation by feeling wanted and actually getting over her agoraphobia so she can enjoy being somewhere other than her room where she fantasizes about the general. The first obstacle A is that she personally gets panicked with anxiety being elsewhere or somewhere she is not comfortable. Another obstacle is that she has a fake facade of her identity because she masked it with plastic surgery. B is she argues with Lefty when he wants to move out and start a life with Evvie, but she wants him to stay. C is that society wants her to look more white and not with her Asian features. D the obstacle against the universe is that she needs self-improvement but everything n her life isn't going the way she wants it to.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. In your estimation what is the most theatrical moment in BFE and what happens during that moment which is so important to the outcome of the play?
I think the most theatrical moment in this play is when Panny is taken by the man who thinks about raping her and takes her into the middle of the desert so he can start kissing her and then ultimately rape her like he has done to blonde girls. While this is happening, she says he ends up beating her senseless but doesn't rape her because she is too ugly to even be raped. She then shows the word "UGLY" carved into her hand by that man. This scene is the climax and really heightens the whole idea and theme of the play. What's important about this in terms of the outcome of the play is that it is part of why she decides to get plastic surgery and continue feeling as if her Asian ethnicity is a burden of ugliness.
7. Provide at least three examples of images in BFE. How does the title of the play help us understand the images in the play? (Remember Ball says that, “An image is the use of something we know that tells us something we don’t know.” He goes on to say that images invoke and expand, rather than define and limit.”)
One example of an image is the exchange of letters between Panny and Hae-Yoon because we can imagine in our heads about their respective locations and feelings. Another example is the scene where the man takes Panny into the desert and starts kissing her with the intention to harm her; this is explained more in #5. The last example of images is when Isabel starts getting with the pizza delivery man Jack because she thinks he is the general she dreams about. Its a funny scene on the surface but it really shows that Isabel is really lonely and wants the feeling of being wanted, especially after her plastic surgery to look more white. The title helps us understand the first image; that Panny is in the middle of nowhere but at the same time she has a lot going on in her life
8. Ordinarily, there are many themes in most plays. List the themes in BFE.
Some themes in BFE include race in society, love, marriage, family, coming-of-age, self-identity and hatred, and physical beauty.
9. Most American plays have something to do with family and/or family relationships. What does family have to do with BFE? Is family redefined in BFE and if so, in what ways?
Family plays a big role in shaping the way that Panny is the way she is. Her own mother, Isabel, doesn't ever teach her values like self-love or having a healthy family relationship, and she even in fact tells Panny for her 14th birthday (which she originally thinks is her 13th birthday because she forgot her own daughter's age) that she will get her plastic surgery done. She tells her that her nose and eyes are not beautiful enough like the white girls are. Panny doesn't even refer to her mom as "mom" or something like that; she calls her by her first name. This really shows how distant they are and they don't have a bond of love. Also, Isabel's brother Lefty is unfulfilled with his life living with his sister and niece. He wants something better and bigger, and starts reading self-improvement books. Combined with the fact that Panny's dad left them when she was really young, the idea of family is redefined in this play into something that most people wouldn't consider normal or healthy.